Ministry of Justice

This Government is reducing reoffending by giving prison leavers the tools to move away from crime.

The latest available data for England and Wales shows that 37.0% of adults released from custody between April 2021 and March 2022 were proven to have reoffended within 12 months of release.

We do not currently measure reoffending rates for released prisoners receiving benefits, on training schemes for job placements or in work (although the latter will be featured in future publications of proven reoffending statistics, with the first due for release in October 2024).

We do, however, know from previous research that offenders who leave custody into employment are up to nine percentage points less likely to reoffend, and there is a similar percentage point reduction in reoffending for those who have engaged in any form of in-prison education.

This Government is reducing reoffending by giving prison leavers the tools to move away from crime.

The latest available data for England and Wales shows that 37.0% of adults released from custody between April 2021 and March 2022 were proven to have reoffended within 12 months of release.

We do not currently measure reoffending rates for released prisoners receiving benefits, on training schemes for job placements or in work (although the latter will be featured in future publications of proven reoffending statistics, with the first due for release in October 2024).

We do, however, know from previous research that offenders who leave custody into employment are up to nine percentage points less likely to reoffend, and there is a similar percentage point reduction in reoffending for those who have engaged in any form of in-prison education.

The prison education curriculum enables prisoners to gain the skills they need to get employment on release. In addition to English, maths and vocational training we offer bespoke, local training via the Dynamic Purchasing System. We are developing other training through our Future Skills Programme in a variety of sectors, such as construction and hospitality with employers guaranteeing interviews to prisoners on completion of the course. Prisoners may also undertake other work placements during their sentence which prepares them for work on release. Some are within the prison setting e.g. prison kitchens, but prisoners in open prisons may also go out to work in a variety of sectors under Release on Temporary Licence conditions. We also work with the Department for Education who fund a ‘skills bootcamp’ to deliver training in skills needed to work in the rail industry alongside continuing to develop the opportunities for serving prisoners to undertake apprenticeships.

Prison Education delivered by HMPPS is underpinned by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, the Prison Rules 1999 and the Prison Education and Libraries Framework. The delivery of apprenticeships to prisoners is governed by the Apprenticeships (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2017. All aspects of education, skills and work are inspected by Ofsted alongside HMIP.

In accordance with the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, paid Ministers below the age of 65 are entitled to a loss of office payment of one quarter of their claimed annual ministerial salary when they cease to hold office.

Departments are required to publish the detail of any ministerial severance payments made within their Annual Report and Accounts each year.

Details of such payments are published in departmental annual reports and accounts:

Ministry of Justice Annual Report and Accounts 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Ministry of Justice Annual Report and Accounts 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Ministry of Justice Annual Report and Accounts 2020 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Ministry of Justice Annual Report and Accounts 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The financial accounts for 2023/24 will be released in due course.

Much of government spending is allocated via an annual budgetary process, which often requires complex choices that can take time to be resolved. This year, the General Election complicated this further – it was not possible for the Department to confirm funding decisions during the election period after the election was called on 22 May 2024. However, within a matter of days of coming into government, we made this decision, and it was communicated to Youth Offending Teams (YOTs).

This Government recognises the challenges associated with late annual allocations for local youth justice services and the need for YOTs to have stable funding for financial planning.

We want to ensure that local services are equipped to make effective use of grant funding. The upcoming multi-year Spending Review is an opportunity for this Government to assess how funding is most efficiently delivered.

Much of government spending is allocated via an annual budgetary process, which often requires complex choices that can take time to be resolved. This year, the General Election complicated this further – it was not possible for the Department to confirm funding decisions during the election period after the election was called on 22 May 2024. However, within a matter of days of coming into government, we made this decision, and it was communicated to Youth Offending Teams (YOTs).

This Government recognises the challenges associated with late annual allocations for local youth justice services and the need for YOTs to have stable funding for financial planning.

We want to ensure that local services are equipped to make effective use of grant funding. The upcoming multi-year Spending Review is an opportunity for this Government to assess how funding is most efficiently delivered.

Much of government spending is allocated via an annual budgetary process, which often requires complex choices that can take time to be resolved. This year, the General Election complicated this further – it was not possible for the Department to confirm funding decisions during the election period after the election was called on 22 May 2024. However, within a matter of days of coming into government, we made this decision, and it was communicated to Youth Offending Teams (YOTs).

This Government recognises the challenges associated with late annual allocations for local youth justice services and the need for YOTs to have stable funding for financial planning.

We want to ensure that local services are equipped to make effective use of grant funding. The upcoming multi-year Spending Review is an opportunity for this Government to assess how funding is most efficiently delivered.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data for offences under the requested legislation in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2023 using following HO codes:

(a) Section 51A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Soliciting):

• 16701 - Soliciting another for the purpose of obtaining their sexual services as a prostitute in a street or public place

(b) Section 1 of the Street Offences Act 1959 (Loitering or soliciting for purposes of prostitution):

• 16604 - Person persistently loitering or soliciting for the purposes of prostitution

(c) Section 52 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Causing or inciting prostitution for gain):

• 02417 - Causing or inciting prostitution for gain

(d) Section 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Controlling prostitution for gain):

• 02418 - Controlling a prostitute for gain

(e) Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force etc.):

• 16702 - Paying or promising to pay a person to provide sexual services, where that person is subject to exploitative conduct to induce or encourage them to provide those services

(f) Section 33A of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 (Keeping a brothel used for prostitution):

• 02419 - Keeping a brothel used for prostitution

(g) Section 46 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 (Placing of advertisement relating to prostitution.):

• 16503 - Placing of advertisement relating to prostitution

(h) Section 2 and 3(3) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Human trafficking – sexual exploitation):

• 03608 - Arrange or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation

Statistics on the timeliness of possession claims are published here: Mortgage and landlord possession statistics: April to June 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published covering the period to June 2024.

The Government has announced its intention to legislate to abolish Section 21 repossessions. Once Section 21 repossessions are no longer available for landlords to use, the County Court will continue to work to the procedures and timelines set out in the Civil Procedure Rules for the management of possession claims including enforcement brought under other grounds.

Statistics on the timeliness of possession claims are published here: Mortgage and landlord possession statistics: April to June 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published covering the period to June 2024.

The Government has announced its intention to legislate to abolish Section 21 repossessions. Once Section 21 repossessions are no longer available for landlords to use, the County Court will continue to work to the procedures and timelines set out in the Civil Procedure Rules for the management of possession claims including enforcement brought under other grounds.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in more staff, alongside system and process improvements, which has seen record levels of grants of probate issued during the last 6 months.

Management Information published by HMCTS shows, despite continued high levels of receipts, the open workable caseload (cases not waiting for more information from the applicant) has reduced by over 50% (36,000 cases) since August 2023 and currently stands at 31,842 in June 2024.

The average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate (following receipt of the documents required) has reduced by 4.5 weeks in June 2024 compared to August 2023. The average timeliness for cases completing in June was 8.5 weeks.

His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service delivers a transitional accommodation service, known as the Community Accommodation Service – Tier 3 (CAS3), which offers prison leavers who are subject to probation supervision and at risk of homelessness on release up to 12 weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release. The service has been gradually rolled out nationwide since July 2021 and since then has supported over 12,200 prison leavers who would otherwise have been homeless.

However, we know there is more to do to ensure people leaving prison can move to long-term settled accommodation, and will work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.

The Ministry of Justice, working with the Department of Health and Social Care, is firmly committed to reducing reoffending by addressing health-related causes of offending behaviour.

Where appropriate, we are working to divert offenders with health needs out of the criminal justice system altogether, including through Liaison & Diversion services, present in all police custody suites and criminal courts in England. Community Sentence Treatment Requirements can also be used as part of community or suspended sentences. Previous research has shown reduced reoffending rates for these types of sentences compared to short custodial sentences, and we are working to evaluate their use.

For those in prison, we work in close partnership with NHS England, who are responsible for commissioning healthcare services, including drug treatment, in all English prisons, so that all prisoners have access to health care equivalent to that in the community. We also work with the Welsh Government, who are ultimately responsible for commissioning and delivering health services for people in prison in Wales. We also work in partnership to ensure that our prisons provide wider support to help prisoners engage with treatment. 80 prisons currently have Incentivised Substance Free Living units where prisoners commit to regular drug tests.

We also want to better support rehabilitation of prisoners leaving custody, who have engaged in treatment and help them to remain in treatment on release. NHS England’s RECONNECT service supports prison leavers with vulnerabilities including mental health and substance misuse needs to engage with services through referrals and peer support.

The welfare of a child must be the court’s paramount consideration when making decisions about a child’s life. This is known as the welfare principle. Prior to the application of the presumption of parental involvement, the court is legally obliged to assess if a parent poses a risk of harm to the child - if their involvement would pose a risk to the child, the presumption does not apply.

The Ministry of Justice has undertaken evidence gathering on the presumption of parental involvement, focused on its application in the family court. We will publish the evidence and proposed next steps in due course.

As part of our commitment to ensuring the justice system is designed to put victims and survivors first, including those who have experienced domestic abuse, we are carefully considering the next steps for supporting victims and survivors across the justice system, including in the family court. We are working across departments to ensure that victims and survivors are supported and that children are kept safe.

We are committed to ensuring that parties to private law children cases in the family courts are protected from harm and that the welfare of the child is always the court’s paramount consideration when making decisions about children’s lives.

The Ministry of Justice published a delivery update in May 2023 which outlined the progress made against the recommendations of the Final Report on Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases. This can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/646e0e577dd6e7000ca9b2f8/harm-panel-delivery-update.pdf.

We will now take the time to consider what more should be done to ensure that children and families are kept safe and supported throughout the family justice system.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts. Parliament has provided the courts with a broad range of sentencing powers to deal effectively and appropriately with offenders, including discharges, fines, community sentences, suspended sentences and custodial sentences.

The law is clear that where an assault is committed against those providing a public service, performing a public duty, or providing a service to the public this is to be considered by courts as an aggravating factor, increasing the seriousness of the offending. This applies to assaults committed against a wide range of workers. The statutory aggravating factor came into force on 28 June 2022.

Going forward, we will undertake a review of sentencing, to make sure that our framework is consistent, coherent, and cuts crime. We will use this review to develop a new long-term vision for sentencing which makes sense to victims and the wider public. The Lord Chancellor will announce more details of this review in due course.

The table below shows the number of prisoners released from, and recalled to, HMP Lincoln and HMP Peterborough between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, and the number of those who were subsequently recalled, either once or more than once, during that period.

Notes:

1. Includes prisoners at both male and female establishments at HMP Peterborough.

2. Number of individual sentences. It is possible that a very small number of offenders may have been released for the first time on different sentences during the period.

The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Source: Prison NOMIS and Public Protection Database

The table below shows the number of prisoners released from, and recalled to, HMP Lincoln and HMP Peterborough between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, and the number of those who were subsequently recalled, either once or more than once, during that period.

Notes:

1. Includes prisoners at both male and female establishments at HMP Peterborough.

2. Number of individual sentences. It is possible that a very small number of offenders may have been released for the first time on different sentences during the period.

The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Source: Prison NOMIS and Public Protection Database

The change to the Standard Determinate Sentence release point was the only option to prevent the imminent collapse of the Criminal Justice System and ensure we protect the public.

The amended release point is applicable to eligible sentences only. Certain offences have been excluded from this change. This includes sex offences irrespective of sentence length; serious violent offences with a sentence of four years or more; specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length (including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation); as well as offences concerning national security. The change will also not apply to sentences subject to release at the discretion of the Parole Board or to offences which currently attract automatic release from an SDS at the two-thirds point (certain serious sexual and violent offences).

Some offenders will have a mixture of eligible and ineligible offences. Whether an offender is released early or not depends on their other sentences, and how they were imposed by the court to be served consecutively or concurrently.

The number of revised releases for those currently in custody are being recalculated to ensure probation and prison staff have time to prepare proper plans for their release. This data is being provided at local authority level to align with service provider boundaries, and therefore is not being provided at a constituency level.

Prisoners released on SDS40 will be subject to licence and liable to recall to prison if they do not comply or are judged a risk to public safety. Reoffending rates are published regularly on an annual and quarterly basis. The most recent rates are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics.

A critical element of reducing reoffending is ensuring offenders leaving prison can access the support they need to resettle effectively into the community. There are clear processes in place to ensure all releases are carefully managed by Prison and Probation staff. An offender’s resettlement needs are assessed on their arrival into the prison estate, with appropriate provision arranged in advance of release. When the release date is changed, as is the case with SDS40, this provision is realigned to that new release date.

As with any offender being released, where victims are receiving the services of the Victim Contact Scheme (VCS) or the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS), they will be informed about the release of an offender.

HMP Wandsworth pays £16,238 per annum for a contracted weekly pest control service. The cost of additional pest control work during the last 12 months totals £99,900.92. This work is being carried out as part of our wider efforts to improve living conditions at the prison, which also includes additional specialist staff, to ensure immediate action is being taken.

The new healthcare unit is expected to open in mid-September 2024.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons’ findings at HMP Wandsworth are deeply concerning. The Lord Chancellor and the Minister of State for Prisons are determined to drive improvement at the prison and we published our response to the Urgent Notification on 6 August 2024.

We also published HMP Wandsworth’s full action plan on 29 August 2024. This action plan addresses the key concerns made by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) during the inspection.

Lord Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, visited HMP Wandsworth on 2 September, accompanied by Lord Ponsonby and will continue to take an active interest in progress at the prison until we are persuaded that sustainable improvement has been delivered.

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice has made no such appointments.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions at magistrates’ courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2023, including breakdowns for specific offences.

However, magistrates’ court proceedings data held centrally is collated at a Local Justice Area (LJA) level only and is therefore not available for Bournemouth specifically. To view the number of prosecutions at courts located in the Dorset LJA, select ‘Dorset’ in the ‘Police Force Area’ filter (Dorset LJA is the only LJA in the Dorset police force area).

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions at magistrates’ courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2023, including breakdowns for specific offences.

However, magistrates’ court proceedings data held centrally is collated at a Local Justice Area (LJA) level only and is therefore not available for Bournemouth specifically. To view the number of prosecutions at courts located in the Dorset LJA, select ‘Dorset’ in the ‘Police Force Area’ filter (Dorset LJA is the only LJA in the Dorset police force area).

Rape and sexual violence are devastating crimes that can have life-long impacts on victims and survivors. This Government is fully committed to supporting victims and survivors, and that is why we have made it a priority to halve violence against women and girls.

The Ministry of Justice funds a range of support services for victims and survivors of sexual violence, both through direct grant funding to organisations (such as the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund) and through funding to Police and Crime Commissioners. These services offer tailored support to victims and survivors of all ages to help them cope with their experiences and move forward with their lives. These services complement the wider support system across Government, such as NHS England-funded Sexual Assault Referral Centres.

Funding after March 2025 will be agreed through the next Spending Review.

We are constantly monitoring the use of End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) and its impact.

ECSL was implemented in October 2023. Since its operation, the number of ECSL releases between 17 October 2023 and 30 June 2024 was 10,083. Further information on ECSL data is intended for future publication in due course.

The Government has no plans to regulate religious dispute resolution processes (such as sharia courts) where all parties consent to those processes. This is consistent with Britain’s long history of freedom of worship and religious tolerance, and the legal rights and remedies of the parties involved remain in place.

Decisions of such bodies are only enforceable if there is a valid arbitration agreement by which all parties have consented to the process, as provided under the terms of the Arbitration Act 1996 for any arbitration panel.

The Government is currently preparing its response to the United Nations Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ List of Issues Report, in relation to the Seventh Periodic Report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and will provide it to the UN shortly. We have had regular contact with the secretariat to the Committee on the timetable for our response.

The Government will then prepare for the interactive dialogue with the Committee which is expected to take place in 2025.

The Victims’ Code sets out the services and support that victims and survivors of crime are entitled to receive from the criminal justice system in England and Wales.

Currently, under the Code, all victims and survivors, including children, are entitled to be given information and be referred to support services by the police to help them cope and recover from the impact of a crime. This is regardless of whether anyone has been charged or convicted of a criminal offence or when the crime itself occurred. If they choose not to report the crime, they can also access support services directly.

We will be carefully considering the implementation of measures under the Victims and Prisoners Act, including the measure to publicly consult on and issue a new Victims’ Code, and the requirement to consider whether different provision for child victims and survivors is needed in the Code to meet their distinct needs.

We recognise the importance of supporting child victims and survivors through access to various forms of support, including psychological help. The Department provides Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) with annual grant funding to commission local practical, emotional and therapeutic support services to victims and survivors of all crime, including children and young people. PCCs commission local providers at their discretion based on their assessment of local need in relation to and not exclusively for child sexual exploitation. We also provide direct grant funding to over 60 specialist organisations through the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund. These services offer tailored support programmes to victims and survivors of all ages, including children, to help them cope with their experiences and move forward.

There are no plans to impose a duty on the Courts to suspend custodial sentences of 12 months or less.

We intend to launch an independent review of sentencing. While the terms of reference are not yet defined, this will look to ensure the sentencing framework is consistent and clear to the public. We will announce more details of this review in due course.

There is good evidence relating to the positive impact of prison education and we continue to carry out evaluation and work to link data to better understand outcomes for prison learners.

Literacy provision is a significant element of the current education offer, with all prisons offering functional skills qualifications in Literacy from Entry Level to Level 2.

From 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, the number of prison learners participating in a functional skills course (English and maths) increased by 71%, from 16,866 to 28,832. Prisoners achieving a full or partial grade increased by 80% from 10,755 to 19,329.

There is good evidence that participation in any form of in-prison education reduces reoffending by up to 9 percentage points. Research from 2018 also showed that learners were significantly more likely to be in P45 employment one year from release, than non-learners (by 1.8 percentage points).

We are continuing to evaluate education initiatives such as the recent Literacy Innovation Fund and Future Skills Projects to add to our knowledge of what works. To further build understanding, the Better Outcomes through Linked Data programme is developing the quantitative evidence base with the aim of understanding the role of different types of prison education in contributing to positive employment outcomes.

All public prisons have successfully recruited a Neurodiversity Support Manager. All private prisons have also recruited Neurodiversity Support Managers, unless they already held equivalent neurodiversity specialisms and expertise.

Due to natural role attrition, as of 29 July 2024, there are 116 Neurodiversity Support Managers in post across the 124 prisons in England and Wales.

The Future Skills Programme is live in 23 prisons, with training being delivered across a range of sectors including construction, warehousing, hospitality, and third sector case work. The programme will run until March 2025 and is being monitored and evaluated. The requested information will be published as part of the evaluation which is anticipated to be available on GOV.UK by summer 2025.

We know that finding employment in the year after release makes offenders less likely to reoffend, by up to nine percentage points. Getting ex-offenders into work is critical to the Government’s work to break the cycle of reoffending. That is why in our manifesto, this Government committed to improve access to purposeful activity, including learning, and to support prisons to link with employers and the voluntary sector to support ex-offenders into work.

Information on the number and proportion of prison leavers employed at 6 months post release is available from April 2020. The most recent figures were published on 25 July 2024 in the Offender Employment Outcomes Update to March 2024 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-employment-outcomes-update-to-march-2024.

The proportion of prison leavers in jobs within six months of their release more than doubled across the past three performance years, from 14% in 2020/21 to 31% in 2023/24.

I can confirm that we are continuing the plans for a phased removal of wet-shave razors and that this will be implemented in up to 30 prisons in the adult male estate in 2024/25.

The Government recognises the critical role third-party litigation funding plays in ensuring access to justice.

Following the PACCAR judgment, concerns have been raised about the need for greater regulation of Litigation Funding Agreements, or greater safeguards for claimants.

The Government is keen to ensure access to justice in large-scale and expensive cases, whilst also setting up adequate safeguards to protect claimants from unfair terms.

The Civil Justice Council is considering these questions and others in its review of third-party litigation funding, and hopes to report in summer 2025. The Government will take a more comprehensive view of any legislation to address issues in the round once that review is concluded.

The question of whether courts in England and Wales have jurisdiction to hear claims brought by parties from other countries are determined by the courts in accordance with common law principles and international conventions.

In English and Welsh law, the determination of the appropriate forum (where no international convention applies) to hear a dispute is the one in which the case may most suitably be tried in the interests of all the parties and the ends of justice. Matters which a court will take into account in deciding this would include whether there are any factors connecting the dispute to a particular jurisdiction.

It is open to the opposing party to challenge a claim on the basis that it should have been brought in another jurisdiction.

The question of whether courts in England and Wales have jurisdiction to hear claims brought by parties from other countries are determined by the courts in accordance with common law principles and international conventions.

In English and Welsh law, the determination of the appropriate forum (where no international convention applies) to hear a dispute is the one in which the case may most suitably be tried in the interests of all the parties and the ends of justice. Matters which a court will take into account in deciding this would include whether there are any factors connecting the dispute to a particular jurisdiction.

It is open to the opposing party to challenge a claim on the basis that it should have been brought in another jurisdiction.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provides funding for the Press Recognition Panel (PRP) annually. MoJ made a payment to the PRP of £430k for the 2024/25 financial year in April 2024. Whilst the Lord Chancellor is the conduit for the PRP with HM Treasury, they have no responsibility under the Royal Charter that created the PRP, for setting the PRP’s success criteria. Instead, the Royal Charter sets out that the PRP Board must have regard to the need to ensure the PRP achieves value for money. The PRP report against this criteria, and other deliverables, in its annual report and accounts which are publicly available.

Value for money lies at the heart of all Government decisions, and the Royal Charter sets out that the Press Recognition Panel (PRP) Board must have regard to the need to ensure it achieves value for money. The PRP has an objective of ‘Ensuring our systems and processes are effective and provide value for money’ and reports on this annually in its annual report and accounts, which are published on its website.

The data on self-inflicted deaths and self-harm across the prison estates is recorded in our published Safety in Custody Statistics. The number and rates of deaths and self-harm across the estate is published quarterly in the Safety in Custody Summary Tables, the latest version of which can be found at: Safety-in-custody-summary-q1-2024_final_table.xlsx (live.com).

HMPPS does not produce official statistics on suicides or attempted suicides, because it is not always known whether a person engaging in self-harming behaviour intends or intended to die by suicide. We therefore collect data on self-inflicted deaths (a term that we use to refer to any death of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life irrespective of intent) and on incidents of self-harm.

This national data informs the development of the prison safety programme, and governors use local data to understand their populations and their safety risks and to inform their safety strategies. Each prison holds a regular safety meeting that includes discussion of the local self-harm data and learning from any self-inflicted deaths that have occurred there.

Individuals assessed as at risk of suicide and self-harm are given individualised support through our case management process. This approach places a strong emphasis on having effective care plans in place to record, address and mitigate risks.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions for truancy offences, however, information held centrally does not include whether the prosecution was processed through the Single Justice Procedure, or if the offence related to a child with or without special educational needs. This information may be held on court records, but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.